Cable and Wireless has recorded the highest ever broadband usage in
Guernsey.
The new peak was recorded at 6pm on Sunday 2
August, when more data was being downloaded on the island’s network
than ever before.
Broadband usage peaked at 561 Megabits per
second (Mbps), and total traffic stayed in excess of 500 Mbps for
more than seven hours.
It meant that three and a half gigabytes of
data was being downloaded every minute, which is equivalent to 60
hours of digital music, more than 3,000 novels, or a full length
DVD movie every two minutes.
Russell Sharman, chief technical officer for
Cable and Wireless, said that the new peak reflected the
increasingly demanding application of today’s internet.
“Ten years ago people spoke about an
information superhighway, but now the internet is increasingly
becoming the entertainment superhighway. A whole host of
high-bandwidth applications are now available, such as online
television, not to mention online gaming and music downloads. It is
this new generation of services that is fuelling the rise in
traffic,” he said.
“The internet is going to rival television as
the primary information and entertainment channel, and I think most
broadcasters recognise that. Already now you can download many of
your favourite programmes or simply watch them online using
services such as the BBC’s iPlayer and Channel 4’s 4oD."
“Most islanders now have access to high speed
internet, and these sorts of entertainment services are now far
more accessible since we doubled the domestic broadband speeds for
local Internet Service Providers. It’s now faster, affordable and
reliable, and the old slow dial-up access that we all used to have
is really now a thing of the past.”
The amount of activity on the network goes
through a 24 hourly cycle. The least data is transferred between
4am and 7am, and during the week the amount of activity sharply
increases in the late afternoon and again in the evening to peak at
around 8pm.
Earlier this year Cable & Wireless
installed new equipment at all seven Bailiwick exchanges as part of
a £2.5 million upgrade to local broadband services. Customers and
internet service providers pay the same as they used to for the
double as fast connection speed, and business users now have access
to speeds of up to 8Mbps.
Mr Sharman said as well as increasing local
broadband speeds, the company’s investment in the new Hugo network
had also provided higher capacity links capable of supporting the
latest internet applications.